Morocco postpones pension reform until after legislative elections

Morocco's government has confirmed that a significant pension reform will be delayed until after the legislative elections scheduled for September 23, 2026. The decision comes after extensive discussions between the Ministry of Economy and Finance and various labor unions.

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The Minister of Economy and Finance confirmed to the social partners during the meeting that the resolution of the issue will be postponed until the next government, which will emerge from the September 23, 2026 elections.

A technical committee, tasked with overseeing the reform, met recently to finalize a comprehensive report detailing the current state of pension funds, observations, and union demands. This report is slated for review by the National Committee for Pension System Reform, likely in late September. Nadia Fettah Alaoui, the Minister of Economy and Finance, conveyed to social partners that the crucial decisions regarding the reform would be deferred to the incoming government.

Abdelhak Hissan, a representative from the Democratic Confederation of Labor (CDT) on the technical committee, stated that a progress report would be submitted to the National Committee. He noted that the minister indicated a potential final meeting of the technical committee in early September to make last-minute adjustments to the interim report. This report, exceeding 100 pages, encapsulates the committee's work over eight meetings and includes the perspectives of social partners.

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We have agreed to put the final amendments on a detailed comprehensive report of all the committee's findings, including the indicators identified regarding the status of the funds and the observations and demands of the unions, before placing it on the table of a meeting scheduled for the technical committee on September 1st.

Hissan added that Fettah Alaoui reiterated that the reform's implementation could not precede the upcoming elections, especially as the diagnostic phase is incomplete, preventing the proposal of concrete scenarios. A leader from another union represented on the committee confirmed that the recent meeting involved an evaluation of all technical committee sessions, aiming to submit the aforementioned report to the National Committee after necessary amendments and finalization in early September.

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The reform cannot be released before the upcoming elections, especially since we have not completed the diagnosis phase to start proposing scenarios to settle on one scenario.